Package Arrives!

It's a happy day when something special arrives in the mail. Today a package arrived for Zach (birthday gift)from some really awesome friends in KC. The box was filled with goodies that Zach loves and special notes encouraging him in his journey here in Korea. Ya, I cried as we read the notes. God is so good and our friends are over-the-top fantastic!



Thank you, friends for loving our family so beautifully. We are incredibly grateful for you.

#11

Last Saturday our friend, Simon, was playing at a "Burger Cafe" called Table Tongs--I know funny. We were excited to see Simon play, usually we can't make it, mostly because he's playing in a smokey bar and we don't want to take our kids. This time, we could enjoy his show so we headed out for Table Tongs.



The show was great. We all had a great time with friends and enjoyed the atmosphere of Tong's. We didn't enjoy the tasty burgers or onion rings--had to save that for next time.

We left the Cafe, or as we would call it in the USA, the burger joint, really late. It was almost Mid-night. We had to make our way to the bus stop which was about a 10 minute walk. Lia who had been going non-stop all day, had finally hit her wall and fell asleep in Todd's arms as we walked along the road.



We had never taken the bus from this station to our house so it took a few moments to figure out what we were doing. Thankfully, there was a kind man who said, "take 11! it go to Migeum." Excellent!

12:15. Bus 11 arrives. We get on. Lia is still asleep. In 20-30 minutes we would be home.

12:30. Bus stops. Driver motions for us to get off. Hmmm . . . we're not in Migeum. I say, "No. We go to Migeum." Drive says, "No." and points to his clock. We did this a few times and then we decided he really wasn't going to budge and we got the kids and got off.

Seriously, did he just decide, "hey, I don't want to go all the way to Migeum, so you people need to get off."

Where the heck are we? We walk a short distance to a bus stop and see a few buses that will take us to Migeum and hope that they are still running. There were no cars on the street and only one taxi had passed us and he had a passenger.

Our wait was short and the 720 arrived. The bus was packed. No chance that this driver would kick us all off and decide to finish his day--I think the passengers would have revolted.

When we got back to Migeum Station, guess who we saw--bus #11. Ya, it wasn't time for him to head home. I so wish I would have held up my big X and said, "no, you take us to Migeum."

We arrived home almost at 1am. Unbelievable.

7 months in review . . . highlights

August: We arrived. Todd went through training. School Started.
September: Adjusting to our new home. Finding a routine. Meeting Friends.
Lia and Todd had birthdays.
October: Exploring. Adventures. Rachel visits. Our community begins to form.
November: Thanksgiving. 34 people in our home to celebrate.
December: Christmas. Rest. Kim turned 42!
January: Largest snow fall in Korea in 50 years. Rie visits.
February: Hoping for Spring. Lunar New Year. Celebrations. Friends.
March: Surprise party for Zach. Trip to the West Sea. Still hoping for Spring. And little afraid of Yellow Dust!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimmersphotos/sets/72157623659300530/show/

Language

If asked what is the most challenging aspect of living in Korea, I'm not sure if I could pin point one thing. There are multiple challenges, each with a different degree of difficulty. Perhaps, high on my list of challenges would be the language barrier.

I want to chat with the cashier at the 7-Eleven or the waitress at the mandu shop, or even a clerk at the grocery store but usually, I must defer to my skill in charades and the dictionary/word translator on my cell phone. Usually, it all works out. Well, sorta. Most of all it leads to laughter and "I'm sorry. No Korean." And the reply, "Sorry, no Englishee."

A few months ago I started a notebook with everyday words/phrases I might need to use. A couple of weeks ago I asked one of the Korean teachers at the school to help me with some directional terms--right, left, there, here, straight. In my taxi ride to school last week I got to try out my new terms. It felt pretty good. I felt smart and powerful. I felt as if I had mastered something huge, even though in reality it's quite small.

What do I know? Only simple words. I can't speak in full sentences. I'm hopeful though. Perhaps in the not so far distant future I will be able to pop into my friend, Young Sim's, restaurant, enjoy a of coffee and share a meaningful conversation with her. For now, we smile, shake hands and laugh as we attempt to speak in broken English and Korean.

Laughing is always good and it makes that huge language barrier, seem not so big after all.

how is it possible?

I ask myself this question often. How is it possible . . . that we know so many amazing, beautiful people? I'm overwhelmed by the treasure of relationships that we have and by the way we continue to meet people that are truly a gift to our family. I'm not sure really how to respond because my heart is full and grateful.

So here in Korea we've met some really amazing people and in seven months a beautiful community has formed and it kinda freaks me out that 7 months ago none of us knew each other. I call it a "God Thing"--cuz I don't know what else to call it.

About a month ago our friend Kim, from Kansas City sent me a note asking if I knew where the city of Suwon was or had heard of a school called GSIS. Why yes, I have heard of both. Suwon is about 20 minutes away and the church we have been going to meets in the GSIS building (it's an international school). Well, it just so happens that a really good friend of Kim's from Columbia, MO has a daughter and son-n-law that are teaching in Korea at GSIS.

Thanks to Kim, our friend from KC, we have met Bonnie and Tom (http://korea-teammeyer.blogspot.com/) who are from Columbia and now live here in Korea. Crazy, right?

We've been able to hang out with Bonnie and Tom a couple of times. Since they're from Columbia, and Columbia is not a huge place, we found out that we have several mutual friends and of course we talked about all the places we miss in CoMo! Artisan, Lakota, Addisons, Shakespeares. It's a long list.

Last weekend, Bonnie and Tom brought over another couple from Columbia, Andy and Lindsey. Andy and Lindsey are teaching in a city about three hours away along the East Sea--we plan to visit them! Again, we had mutual friends and favorite places and funny Korean stories to share.

We had such a fun night with these two couples--they are so cool--for real. Though we all once lived in the same city, we didn't know one another. Now, we've come to Korea and have met. It's pretty cool. And I'm grateful.



You know, that world isn't so big after all. It's really pretty small.

Surprise!

Zach is turning 11, March 11. He's been a little down about his birthday so we thought it would be great fun to have a surprise party for him. So with the help of some amazing friends we came up with a plan and had ourselves a Zach Par-TAY!

Jebudu Island, West Sea

We arrived in S. Korea 6 1/2 months ago. For the most part, we have only been in Seoul and Bundang. We have not traveled to other parts of Korea due to mostly time and money. I'm not complaining about what we've been able to see but I want to experience a little more of Korea.

I've been asking Todd for over a month if we could take a trip to the sea. I've been feeling a little claustrophobic. Tall buildings, people, mountains--everywhere. I just need open space, a view of the horizon and a place where there's not so much concrete. I close my eyes often and picture a prairie in Kansas or the rolling hills and distant views of fields and trees of Missouri. I've actually made a date with my friend, Ami to find a field in Kansas and just lay in it for a few hours, after we have a beer and burger in Westport, of course.

Last Thursday, I was having a hard day, I will go ahead and say, I've been a hormonal mess for about 2 weeks, and said to Todd, "You must take me to the sea this Saturday." It was probably more like a command rather than a request. I was feeling pretty desperate.

Friday evening we explored our options. The closest and cheapest way for us to get to the sea would be to visit Jebudu Island along the West Sea. Let's do it.

We left our house at 11am and traveled two hours on three different buses to get to the island. We all enjoyed the drive. We were able to see farm land and a different part of Korea that we hadn't experienced yet--and there were no tall buildings.

The bus drops passengers off at the entrance of the island. There were several stores and street vendors so we decided to grab some water and fruit for the day. The street vendor would only sell us a case of oranges. After trying multiple charades to say we only needed a few oranges we decided, "O-kay, we'll take the case." We would find people to share them with along the way.

As we walked towards the entrance to the island there are restaurants lining the street. Each had a man or woman shouting and motioning for you to come and try there place--each of them were so animated and convincing. We kept walking. We were here to see the West Sea!! I do love seafood though and did want to try something but most of my family would not go for that--and poor Darlin' is allergic to shell fish.

Looking lost at the entrance to the island a lady stopped and asked if we were wanting to go to the island. Yes! She said the walk was quite long with children but there would be a bus that could take us around the island if we walked back a little ways. So we did. Thankful, for the kind woman from South Africa. She lives on the island and teaches English.

We spent almost three hours on the island. It was quite cold and the breeze from the sea was biting but it didn't matter--it was beautiful. open. quiet. I can't tell you how good it was for my soul to be away--even for the day. For all of us, it was a beautiful and exhausting day.

When it was time for us to leave the island we were trying to soak in every little moment. I didn't want to leave. We were already talking about when we could return. Spring!

It was time to leave and we began wandering around a bit looking for the bus stop. When we found it, we waited for over 40 minutes and there was no bus. We finally saw a taxi and I flagged him down. He already had a passenger but the sweet woman said she would share with us. We thankfully hopped in and she in her broken English asked our names, where we are from and if we liked Korea. Ms. Cho. So grateful for her kindness. She insisted that we not pay for the tax ride so we shared with her a few of our oranges.

the girls

the girls
Originally uploaded by kimmer67

I love these woman. A few days ago, someone asked me if I could see part of why God may have us in Korea. I don't know the full reason of why, but I think each of these woman has a little to do with it!